Kane and Abel (1985) [1 of 4]

Episode 1 (17 Nov. 1985) : The early lives of Kane & Abel are presented. William Kane brought up in lavish wealth and luxury. Abel Rosnovski suffers poverty but not lack of love, while brought up by his adoptive parents (who took him in after his mother died of cholera and he was orphaned) and then he has brutal youth during the first great war and revolution.

Kane & Abel mini series is an adaption from the best selling novel by Jeffrey Archer, It tells the classic tale of two ambitious men, whose lives are bound together by fate and dominated by rivalry and greed. William Lowell Kane and Abel Rosnovski, one the son of a Boston millionaire, the other a penniless Polish immigrant - two men born on the same day on opposite sides of the world, their paths destined to cross in the ruthless struggle to build a fortune.

Born on the same day near the turn of the century on opposite sides of the world, both men are brought together by fate and the quest of a dream. These two men — ambitious, powerful, ruthless — are locked in a relentless struggle to build an empire, fuelled by their all-consuming hatred. Over 60 years and three generations, through war, marriage, fortune, and disaster, Kane and Abel battle for the success and triumph that only one man can have.

William Kane is born in one of the richest families of Boston and grows up to be a banker on Wall Street. Abel Rosnovski is born in the Polish countryside and has to spend many years in Siberian prison camps before he travels to New York and eventually creates one of the world's largest chains of hotels. The confrontation between these two men, both striving for power and success, will make the finance capital of the world tremble.

Peter Strauss stars as Abel Rosnovski with Sam Neill as William Lowell Kane. It was directed by Buzz Kulik with music by Billy Goldenberg. I was mostly filmed in New York City, USA, with few scenes in Toronto Canada and countryside in France.

When aired the mini series was popular with, and well received by, the public, but surprisingly it only received a single award nomination (an Emmy nomination for OUTSTANDING EDITING FOR A MINISERIES OR A SPECIAL) that it did not win.